In December, the Air Force Institute of Technology’s first free-flying satellite will venture into space on an Atlas V rocket with the GEMSat/ELaNa II NASA mission.

ALICE, a CubeSat, or category of small, powerful, free-flying micro satellites, will ride along with as many as seven other secondary payloads. GEMSat is the container dispensing a group of the CubeSat satellites off the Atlas V, while this specific NASA mission is called ELaNa II.

ALICE is not the typical acronym.  It is an acronym made up of acronyms. The ‘A’ stands for AFIT, followed by descriptions of various analytical processes and components. The ‘L’ is for LEO or low earth orbit; the ‘I’ in iMESA represents Integrated Miniaturized Electrostatic Analyzer; the ‘C’ is for CNT or Carbon Nano-Tube; and the ‘E’ for experiment. While ALICE is not AFIT’s first space experiment, it is the organization’s first satellite.

The rocket transporting ALICE will depart from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. In space, ALICE’s mission will be to test the performance of an advanced carbon nanotube array. The nanotubes were produced using a new manufacturing process developed in partnership at AFIT, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
 
Georgia Tech manufactured the carbon nanotube array and AFIT built the payload and assembled and tested the satellite.  Performance of the carbon nanotube array will be done using custom built integrated miniaturized electrostatic analyzer (iMESA) sensors, based on designs provided by the U.S. Air Force Academy. The ALICE satellite is a 3U (5-inch-by-5-inch-by-15-inch) cubesat supplied by the National Reconnaissance Office Colony CubeSat program.

The carbon nanotube array on ALICE represents a significant enhancement in small satellite propulsion.
 
“Technology like the device being tested on ALICE is essential to our future ability to maneuver micro satellites or change their orbit,” said Jonathan Black, director of AFIT’s Center for Space Research and Assurance. “Being able to incorporate propulsion onto microsatellites like cubesats increases mission longevity and the types of missions they can perform. Successful demonstration of advanced technology like those being flown on ALICE will ultimately lead to smaller, lighter, and more energy-efficient propulsion, resulting in decreased launch costs while increasing the performance of all satellites utilizing electric propulsion, not just microsatellites.”

ALICE was designed, tested, and integrated at AFIT at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base by a multi-department team of professors, students, and technicians. The team is comprised of military officers and civilians, and includes students from local southwest Ohio universities. 

The ALICE mission will be controlled by a ground station at AFIT. It represents an end-to-end space mission design, build and fly capability and is the first of many such flights planned by AFIT’s newly formed Center for Space Research and Assurance.